Rod Brooks, Chief Marketing Officer of PEMCO Mutual Insurance, says the new reality of marketing and sales is that customers are in control of your brand. To win in the marketplace, companies must reorganize their mission and operations around that reality. Brooks says “the voice of the customer” has become PEMCO’s most important strategic initiative. […]
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Ruby Newell-Legner, an internationally recognized expert in customer service, has presented over 2000 programs in 11 countries and counts the Burj Al Arab, known as the only 7 star hotel in the world, among her clients. Listen as she reveals her 7 steps to 7 star service in this informative seminar. Improve your service and […]
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Avish Parashar, author of Improvise to Success, demonstrates how to use improvisation techniques to dramatically improve your problem solving and influence. He starts by demonstrating the devastating, log-jamming effect of the word “but” and finishes by demonstrating a technique to facilitate collaboration. Every manager and leader should study improv! www.AvishParashar.com. Available in HD and […]
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Brian Tracy, author of 45 books on leadership, selling, self-esteem, goals, strategy, creativity and success psychology, says change is inevitable and there are four basic ways to respond to it. He also says that setting and pursuing goals helps us respond to and even lead change. www.BrianTracy.com. Available in HD and full screen: Click […]
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International banker, H.T. Narea, author of the financial thriller novel, The Fund, says the American financial system has several fundamental problems and vulnerabilities that need to be addressed. His novel tells the apocalyptic story of what could happen if these risks are not mitigated. Interestingly, he says the most fundamental issue is the education and […]
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Greg Giesen, author of Mondays at 3, and host of the Leading From Within radio show, says we can greatly improve our performance if we consistently receive coaching. He also says we should take time each week to reflect on our priorities and our learnings. Then, we should write them down so we remember them […]
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Scott Halford, author of Be A Shortcut, says we can greatly improve our performance if we are aware of how our brain works. For example, he says our brains quickly become overloaded with too many orders. So, dividing tasks into smaller pieces and then focusing on them sequentially will improve our stamina and performance. He […]
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Jim Blasingame, host of the award-winning, weekday radio talk show, The Small Business Advocate, says this century will not be the “Asian Century”, but rather, the “Century of Small Business.” Jim says that Adam Smith’s notion of the “invisible hand,” whereby societies’ needs are best achieved when each person individually takes ownership and accountability is […]
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Bill Kenower, author of the novel, One Year in Jeopardy, and editor-in-chief of Author magazine, says the essence of humanity is to be creative and that we are the most creative, productive, and successful when we focus exclusively on the experience of the moment. By continuously asking ourselves, “What can I make?” and “What can […]
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Melissa Jurcan, CSEP, western region vice president of the International Special Events Society, has been a part of several major events, including Super Bowl XLII, 2001 MLB All Star Game, Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and BCS National Championship Game, international soccer and more. Melissa says, “Gone are the days that we advertise and simply repeat our […]
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Male Speaker: The actuationzone.combrought to you by changeleadershipgroup.com. Brett Clay: Hi.This is Brett Clay. I’m here with Gerhard Gschwandtner the CEOSelling Power Magazine and the conference host of the Sales 2.0 Conference here in– that was held just now in San Francisco, California.Hi, Gerhard. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Hi, Brett. Brett Clay: Gerhard, tell us what do you — what’s the biggest change that’shappening in sales today? Gerhard Gschwandtner: There are a lot ofchanges and everybody’s a little bit worried about what will happento them in the future. Let me let the cat out of the bag.Of the 18 million sales people that are employed across the United States today,those jobs will more often transform and what we have been doing todayis going to disappear. And by 2020 there will be only about3 million sales jobs left. Brett Clay: So those are three millionof the 18 million jobs that exist today. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Right.Brett Clay: And so of the people that doing what they’re doing today onlythree million will be left. The other 15 million willbe doing something else. Gerhard Gschwandtner: Absolutely, andthere’s a new breed of sales person of which I called Sales 2.0 Person.Sales people need to move up online and they need to be very skilled inusing the web, using social media. And 70 percent of all purchasing decisionsare already made online before they actually see a sales person. So the big challenge is if sales peopleare not where the customers are which is on the web, then you’re going to lose. Brett Clay: So what were the big ideas that– you’ve been running the Sales 2.0 Conference for three years now, I believe,so now it’s sort of getting mature in a way. What are the new ideas this year versus,say, last year? Gerhard Gschwandtner: Well, I wouldn’tsay that Sales 2.0 is an immature state. I think that as everything we are evolvingand we have unprecedented growth compared to last year’s conference hasgrown by over 50 percent, and we don’t know how that accelerationcontinues and what will happen next year. All I know is that year over year,every time we do it, we see that there’s a dramaticshift in the way sales leaders are thinking about the sales organization.By that I mean this year the biggest change is the shift from operationalefficiency towards creating a customer centric enterprise.Brett Clay: Okay, excellent. So what is it — what are some of thecritical success factors and how do you define creating a customercentric enterprise? Gerhard Gschwandtner: Well, the bigchallenges for an enterprise to realize that the silos that stand in the way ofserving the customer need to come down. And last year we have talked about howto align sales with marketing and now we wanna align sales marketing and serviceand later we wanna align the entire company and design it around the customer.Just think about how many touch points customers experience in theirjourney towards buying. So they experience the website, the insidesales team, the outside sales team, the credit department, the finance department,the invoicing department, the contract department, the trainingdepartments, service, delivery. So the — in an average sale there are atleast 18 different touch points so what you wanna do is identifythose touch points. Secondly, associate each touch point witha metric that is driven by the customer where you know how you’re performing inthe eyes of the customer and not in your own eyes.And then you need to have a technology where it gives everybody in the companya unified view and vision of where the customer’s at. Brett Clay: Great.Well, thank you so much, Gerhard. Great conference and we look forward toa lot of growth and adoption as the world of sales changes dramatically.Gerhard Gschwandtner: Awesome. Thank you, Brett.It’s a pleasure. Brett Clay: Signing off from Sales 2.0with Brett Clay and Gerhard Gschwandtner. Male Speaker: The actuationzone.combrought to you by changeleadershipgroup.com.Copyright 2010 Brett Clay. All rights reserved.
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Willis Turner, president and CEO of Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), a professional society, says salespeople and marketers need to strive for excellence in their professions through continuous learning and education. Listen as Willis talks about driving sales and marketing excellence in the “sales 2.0” world. www.SMEI.org For recaps of the Sales 2.0 Conference, […]
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